Reagan was full of strong words and gets credit for defeating the Soviet Union with the phrase, "Tear down this wall!"
In 1983, Russian shot down a Korean airliner, KAL-007 over international waters. Reagan was on vacation. His press secretary must have been on vacation, too.
An assistant press secretary read a short message to the country on behalf of the President which included this phrase:
Mrs. Reagan and I want to express our deepest sympathy to the families of the victims. Our prayers are with them in this time of bereavement, and they have my personal assurance that I will make every effort to get to the bottom of this tragedy.
The Russian recovered the black boxes soon after the shoot down. Reagan got the black boxes returned ... never in his Presidency. It was 1999 when the world got access to the data on the flight recorders.
There was a U.S. Congressman on the flight, Lawrence McDonald, representative from Georgia in the United States House of Representatives.
McDonald's body was never returned to the U.S. His body and others may have been 'lost' in an effort to hide evidence.
